Gaming

System Shock 2 - The only game to have truly scared me. This was one of the first games that I played when I switched to PC gaming since my HP Pavillion at the time couldn't play a lot of the newer games. The rest was history

Deus Ex - This game still informs much of my world view

Thief 1 and 2 - While SS2 scared me in absolute terms, Thief gave me a sense of dread and isolation coupled with amazing stealth mechanics

Skyrim - My gateway to RPGs

GTA 4 - SA was my introduction to the series and, while I enjoyed very much, 4 was just blew me away.

Planescape: Torment - The most beautifully crafted RPG ever

Fallout 2 - I'll be honest: I only played and beat the first two Fallouts just this year but, man, do I wish I played them sooner. FO2 in particular change my relationship with the series.

Xenogears. That game changed my teenage life and shaped many things I did after.

Outer Wilds, Nier Automata, and SOMA are all fantastic runners up. Would love to put many others on this list, but I'll try to keep it short.

While I never saw the credit rolls (because the game doesn't have it), Dwarf Fortress definitely changed something in my head.

From my initial attempts where I couldn't even figure how to make my dorfs get food or dig, to reaching a point where most of my forts would be retired due to low FPS and, to this day, only failed attempts at taming an evil biome for more than 2 years, the game showed that procgen, by itself, is not an excuse for shitty looking worlds or terrains. Hell, the procgen can even generate interesting stories and situations, though no longer absurdly awesome ones like the story of Cacame Awemedinade. Quote:

Cacame, at the ripe old age of 12, he became a Guard. Two years later, an elven attack from the Field of Kindling's city of Fish of Magic injured him in the lower body and killed his wife Nemo Ruyavaiyici (who was then eaten by Amoya Themarifa, the elf who killed her). Maddened with grief, Cacame set off to the nearest front as soon as he healed enough to fight.

During his first combat he took up his fallen commander's legendary warhammer[name?] and slew many elves with it, being noted as the battle's fiercest and deadliest warrior; for his deeds, the dwarves' second-in-command acknowledged that Cacame would best put the warhammer to use and should keep it.

Two years after that, in 99, the Battle of Both Kings was fought. In this battle Cacame struck down King Nithe of Field of Kindling (who was finished off by another dwarf called Sibrek Handpages, though); however the other king slain was the dwarven king himself. The dwarves decided that Cacame, by now dubbed "The Immortal Onslaught", should take over as their king.

Once made King, Cacame left in a brief quest to resurrect his wife. He returned riding a zombie wyvern, but without achieving his goal. In 111, at the age of 28, he moved his capital to the Gamildodók (Trustclasps) Fortress.

It wasn't the story of the game that was life-changing, but I met people on PSO that encouraged me to pursue a different career. Without them, I don't think I'd be the person I am today.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It made me realize that the future is not going to be people on spaceships. It will be bizarre and beautiful post-human intelligences. That's what made me choose to study biology (although in retrospect I should have bet on silicon rather than carbon).

Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou and Planescape Torment. I think both helped me think about death and reincarnation - what would it even mean to have a “soul”? Would it mean some sort of unbroken consciousness, or are we bits and pieces of different segmented ideas and thoughts loosely connected together?

EverQuest. It has been 26 years with no real breakd now. I fucking love that game.

Blue Prince’s « ending » had me like that.

Then people say when you get to 46 you barely just beat the tutorial.

Stray

"Madeline is gonna make us a pie with all the berries she collected"

Madeline is gonna jump off this mountain from embarassment after making a pie with two strawberries

Chess* enhanced my cognitive skills and consequently improved my confidence.

*lichess.org

Halo 3 to cap off the original trilogy

lol when the mirror finally drops in Path of Exile

Dark Souls: Remastered After waiting years to try I really can git gud

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice stayed with me for quite a while. It's a walking simulator with some mild puzzles and fun combat, but the real experience is something I've never seen before. They really made the best of the medium to tell their story. Also there is a short documentary you should watch after finishing the game.

Fallout 3

Enderal and its not even close. It shows a world that is in a deep decline and an apocalypse that is all but inevitable but manages to still feel hopeful in a way. Throughout the game there is this theme of how even if everything might fade at some point your interpersonal actions are still meaningful. The Rhalata sidequest alone easily outmatches most games that where published by "real" game studios and the main story just seals the deal.

OG Resident Evil 4 left a hell of an impression on me as a kid. That and OG God of War, I was hooked for life.

Halo 1 legendary mode co-op fuck yes

The vanishing of Ethan Carter.

I was thinking about the ending for days. I wish someone else could experience it for the first time so I can finally talk about it with someone. This game is so good, audio, graphics and story wise, it's a shame it's not widely known.

Chrono Trigger